By Echo Bodine
A Prayer Group
In my quest to better understand God - and prayer - three friends and I formed a prayer group called Master Mind. I’d heard about this kind of group at church. At our weekly meetings, we’d each share what we wanted help or guidance with, and one person would write down everyone’s requests. 
At the next meeting, that person would read out loud the previous week’s requests, and each of us would talk about how our prayers had been answered.
In our group, I learned about the power of prayer and the importance of being clear about what you’re asking for. I saw that not all prayers are answered immediately. I learned about divine timing and that everything happens when it’s meant to. No matter how much I pleaded for something, if it wasn’t for my highest good, it wasn’t going to happen.
Be Careful What You Wish For!
I learned that if I prayed for things like patience, tolerance, and courage, life would present situations that required just those attributes. I remember once calling my mom and complaining, “Everyone’s driving me crazy!”
Mom asked what I had prayed for in my Master Mind group, and when the word patience popped out of my mouth, we had a good laugh. God wasn’t going to just hand me patience; He was going to show me that I already had it but wasn’t using it.
In Master Mind, I also saw how my low self-esteem limited my sense of entitlement. For example, instead of praying for a brand-new car, I’d ask for one that works. Instead of asking for a hefty raise at work, I’d ask for enough money to get by.
By listening to what each group member prayed for, we all learned a great deal about each other and ourselves. We also became aware of the issues we had around trusting (mainly not trusting!) God.
When suffering with intestinal problems, I prayed to God for a healthy colon. After weeks of saying the same prayer, I landed in the hospital and needed emergency surgery. At first I felt let down that God hadn’t healed me, but then it dawned on me that in order to have a healthy colon, I needed thirteen inches of “floppy intestines” removed. This was God’s way of answering my prayer.
I wanted to be on a spiritual path more than I wanted any specific outcome I might pray for, so I started praying, “Thy will be done, not mine.” I wanted any and all fear of God to go away so that we could be partners in life.
I didn’t want negative religious messages to interfere with God and I moving forward with each other. I wanted the trust that is essential to any good relationship. My Master Mind group showed me the areas that needed to heal so that I could gain that trust.
We’d end each meeting with gratitude because we’d realized that ultimately, what we needed to do was surrender our will - our list -and instead ask for God to show us our highest good.
Meditation
As I read and asked questions about getting closer to God, the practice of meditation kept coming up. This was not an answer I wanted to hear, because it seemed impossible to quiet my mind.
I sat in a lotus position. I closed my eyes. I did the “om” thing. Nothing happened, other than my mind wandering to my grocery or chore list. I felt like a failure at meditation, so I minimized its value.
One day I got the inner nudge to call my friend Roy, who meditated daily. Could he explain the concept of Higher Self and teach me to meditate? Roy said that the Higher Self is the part of us that is God and that we meditate to communicate with this presence.
Meanwhile, I kept trying - and failing - to meditate. Then one day I had a breakthrough. I was running on a treadmill and for some reason grabbed onto the bars, closed my eyes, put my attention on my belly button, and asked God, “Are you in there?”
Suddenly, a white light came out of my midsection, and I heard a male voice say, “Yes, I am.” My first impulse was to jump off the machine and run! But I stayed and watched the light emanating from my solar plexus. I felt peaceful. The more I concentrated on it, the more peaceful I got. I stayed with this unusual experience until the light disappeared.
The next day, when I got back on the treadmill and again asked God if He was within me, a beautiful white energy came out of my solar plexus. I had the sense of this light being my protector.
I believe I was able to experience this because on the treadmill, my mind was busy keeping my feet on the track. Because I wasn’t desperately trying to quiet my mind, I was freed up to hear the voice. As the communications became lengthier,
I began to keep a notebook by the treadmill so that I wouldn’t forget all the information I was receiving - insight into the gift of healing and my psychic abilities, guidance about clients, advice on my personal journey.
Meeting The Femenine Side Of God
After several years of talking to Him, the feeling of this powerful male presence within me changed and became softer, more feminine. I felt a shift in who I was talking to. I asked the female voice what had happened to God, and she said that She was the feminine side of God. She would now be working with me for a while. “Could I ask the real God if this is okay?” I asked her. She had a good chuckle at that.
The Bible verse telling us that we are made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26) came into my head. I realized that if that was true, there must be a female side to God. We aren’t all men, after all. I had to ponder this because I had been raised to believe God was male.
It took time for me to adjust to the female half of my Higher Self, but once I accepted Her wholeheartedly, the male side began talking to me again. I now hear both. And meditation is no longer restricted to treadmill time. I spend the majority of my day in silence, receiving guidance from both the male and female sides of my Higher Self. This is the most peaceful and beautiful way I have ever lived.
Echo Bodine is the author of Look For the Good & You’ll Find God: The Spiritual Journey of a Psychic and Healer and several other bestselling titles. She is a renowned psychic, spiritual healer, teacher, and radio host. Her website is www.echobodine.com.
Excerpted from Look For the Good & You’ll Find God: The Spiritual Journey of a Psychic and Healer © 2008 by Echo Bodine. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com <http://www.newworldlibrary.com/> or 800-972-6657 ext. 52.